else, never mind whom; any one in the
rotten lot, any gentleman in the front boxes, eh? It's 'Whistle and I'll
come to you, my lad!' with you! But I thought Jimmy would do best, Jimmy
your lover, whom you followed to London. Now my luck has brought me here,
too ... for my work ... not like you! And, by the way, Miss Lily, have you
brought me that thousand marks which you got from Jimmy and which I was
going to give back to him, when you stole it out of my pocket? Or did you
spend it on the way here? You hadn't a rag to your back, when you left me,
and I find you dressed up like a Tottie. My compliments, Miss Lily."

"O God, strike him dead!" prayed Lily. "Strike him, kill him, kill him!"

Lily felt like fainting. She could not breathe, her ribs seemed to be
crushing her lungs. At last she drew a long, slow breath:

"Well," she stammered, overcome with shame, "well, we can be divorced ...
if you like."

"I'll see," said Trampy, hardening his voice and throwing away his cigar.
"Go back to your Jimmy in the meantime. You may be sure I have no use for
a traitress like you, an idler who refuses to work, a woman who lets every
man make love to her!" And, suddenly, pointing to the stairs, "You can be
sure that I've no further use for you! Get out of this, damn you! And
you're not going, mind you: I'm kicking you out!"

And therewith Trampy went back into his room and slammed the door in her
face.

Mrs. Clifton and Lily remained glued where they were. At last, Ma,
trembling all over, rose from the bench and led away her daughter, who
shook her fist at the door, crying:

"Liar!"

"Why didn't you speak just now, my poor Lily?" said Ma. "You ought to have
answered back! So it's true, all that? A nice thing! You, who
pretended...."

"Oh, let go, you're crushing my sleeve!" retorted Lily angrily, pulling
her arm away from the hand that clasped it.

She went down the stairs, followed by Ma, without knowing what she was
doing. She would have liked to find a train on the pavement, a motor, to
jump into it, to make off and never see anybody again, after the
humiliation which she had undergone before Ma.

She flung herself into the first cab that came along, yelled a direction
to the driver: Hyde Park, anywhere! Ma found herself by Lily's side,
without being asked to step in, and she repeated:

"Lily, you ought to have ... Why did you let him treat you like that? Is
it true?"

"First of all," said Lily, suddenly turning